Curry and Maple Sweet Potato Soup

I love sweet potatoes. For one, they cook a lot faster than regular potatoes (I'm impatient!) and they have so much natural flavor. And if you've ever had sweet potato fries, you know just how versatile this root vegetable can be. Spicy and sweet, this Curry & Maple Sweet Potato Soup is bound to become a fall favorite.
A Jerry James Stone Recipe

Categories

Soup, Vegan, Yellow

Ingredients
  

  • 4 sweet potatoes
  • 1 small sweet onion
  • 3 Cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 cups light Salt-Free Vegetable Broth
  • 2 1/2 tablespoon(s) mild curry powder
  • 6 tablespoon(s) maple syrup
  • salt, to taste
  • ground cloves (for garnish)
  • 1 cup cashews (for garnish)
  • Dash cardamom (for garnish)
  • 1/4 pumpkin seeds (for garnish)
Jump to instructions
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Instructions

  • 1. Peel and dice 4 sweet potatoes. FACT: You're probably thinking, those are yams, sucka! Well, they aren't, even though they may be labeled as such at your grocery store. Sweet potatoes and yams are completely different. Why the confusion? First, there are sweet potatoes and yams that look alike. But the biggest culprit is the government, which has allowed the terms to be used interchangeably. For example, in many stores you can find bins that are labeled "Red Garnet Yams" and "Jewel Yams" and the foods in these bins are actually sweet potatoes. In fact, always assume it is a sweet potato. Over 1 million are grown commercially in the U.S. every year where as the commercial production of yams is rare.
  • Chop 1 onion and add it along with 3 cloves of garlic and some olive oil to a large soup pot. Cook the onion and garlic over a medium-high heat until the onion becomes translucent.
  • Add the sweet potatoes and cook for about 15 minutes until they just begin to soften. Then add 4 cups of the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
  • Once the sweet potatoes are fully cooked and just about to fall apart, remove them from the heat.
  • Doing 1 cup at a time, puree the sweet potato and broth mixture in a food processor.
  • Transfer the pureed mixture back to the soup pot and add 2 1/2 tablespoons of curry powder and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Also add the remaining 2 cups of vegetable broth, but you want to add just enough to make it soupy so you might not use it all.
  • Bring the soup to a low simmer to have the flavors meld.
  • Let cool to an edible temperature and then salt to taste.
  • If you want to garnish it as I have below. Soak the 1 cup of cashews over night. Strain, reserving the water. Puree the cashews with 2 tablespoons of the water, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and a dash of ground cardamom. Add some of the puree to the soup, along with pumpkin seeds, and a dash of ground clove. I recently reshot this recipe as it was one of my first ones, one that I photographed with an iPhone. Here is the original photo.
    Curry and Maple Sweet Potato Soup